LET’S GET FIT! | health & wellness ||
But let’s get back to your
evening constitutional. Walking is
more natural to us than sitting.
When walking actively, the body
works at full power, obeying a natu-
ral rhythm. And when we synchro-
nize ourselves with Nature’s
“metronome,” we attune ourselves
to a healthy way of being. For real
improvement of our general health,
regularity of health-promoting ritu-
als—exercises and walks—is very
important. Then you need to move
from a small goal to a larger one;
that’s the secret to success. Today
you’ve done five push-ups, and to-
morrow, and so on until five seems
very easy. You’ve increased the
number of repeats, and again until
it feels easy. The idea is to increase
the load gradually. Small steps will
make fitness an essential component
of your way of life. And, we would
note: of a healthy one.
BENEFITS
Engaging in any kind of physical
activity disciplines people, making
them diligent. After all, you’ll have to
go to bed and get up at regular times
and stick to your eating regimen and
fitness exercises. You set the neces-
sary rhythm and habituate yourself to
follow the plan. That pattern easily
carries over to all other aspects of
your life, including creative output.
You become more responsible, don’t
miss deadlines, and find time for self-
development.
One more important advantage
of an active way of life is that it gives
you confidence in yourself and your
strengths. Doing exercises and taking
your constitutional regularly, you’ll
begin achieving results, even if
they’re modest at first. The first week
you took thirty-minute walks,
the next week forty-five, and
later even an hour spent in motion will
fly past unnoticed. However, even
small gains will make you more
self-confident. You’ll realize that
you’re capable of far more than
you’d thought. In time you‘ll be
more decisive in taking on difficult
but engrossing projects, and exactly
the same way as with fitness, you’ll
achieve results. And procrastination
will no longer be a way of life.
You won’t even realize how with-
out any strain at all you’ve succeeded
in losing extra weight and improving
your general physical and mental
state: at some moment you’ll realize
you feel at ease, nimble, buoyant, and
living an enjoyable life.
And, finally, a reasonable, regular
physical load will help you increase
your concentration and working ca-
pacity during periods of mental labor.
Do you know what Sigmund Freud,
Peter Tchaikovsky, Thomas Mann,
Ludwig Beethoven, Victor Hugo,
17
Charles Darwin, Im-
manuel Kant, John
Milton, and Charles
Dickens had in com-
mon? Besides the fact
that they were all ex-
traordinarily talented
people, they were
united by a love for
walking. Despite their tight sched-
ules, they set aside time specially for
a walk, because the brain, out in the
fresh air, saturated with oxygen and
balanced by the rhythm of walking,
begins thinking better and generating
new ideas, creative ones. Your own
experience will convince you of that
fact as soon as taking a constitutional
becomes a habit.
ARTI:
Start today! And you’ll easily find
a set of exercises suitable for your
daily physical in free apps for smart-
phones. There’s a survey of them on
the next page.
ALPEON.COM